Herbs: Planting Sweet Basil



Fresh herbs add aroma and character to your dishes. Nothing beats freshly crushed basil leaves toppings on a plate of pipping hot spaghetti. Basil however has very short shelf life and the aroma easily lost with refrigeration.

A potted basil within easy reach either at your balcony or your garden can be really handy to add that finishing touch to your favourite dish.

Let us start planting basil through stem cutting or through seeds. If you need help to prepare the soil, please refer to soil preparation here.

Materials you need

· At least a 15 cm diameter by 20 cm depth flower pot. I used a 20 cm diameter by 25 cm depth flower pot.

· A well-grown basil plant that you can obtain the stems or a packet of sweet basil seeds.

By Stem-cutting

Step 1: water the soil until it is thoroughly soaked. For a well drained soil, the pot should be slightly flooded for a short while after which water will drain off very quickly (approximately to count of three).

For my case, I used about 3L of water.
 

Fig. 1 well-watered soil.

 

Step 2: Cut 3 stems from a well grown basil plant

Fig 2. Well grown basil plant

Fig 3. Cut stems from basil plant

Step 3: Loosen the soil slightly with a spade.

Fig. 4 pot with loosen soil

 

Step 4: Insert the stems into the pot and pressed the soil lightly to hold the stems in place.

Fig. 5 Pot with basil stems

Step 5: Water with lots of water. We are looking at approximately 3L of water.

Step 6: Leave the plant in a sunny place (minimum 4 hrs of sunlight per day). Water it with 3L of water everyday. Morning preferred, when the temperature is cool.

Do not water the plant when it is very hot and sunny like mid-day. The leaves will be scalded by the hot sun. Do not water the plant at night too. Herbs do not like 'wet feet' and the roots may rot.

The roots will form in about 7 to 10 days. If the leaves of the stems do not wittered on the second day or third day and the plant looks healthy and green by day 7, celebrate, you have succeeded in planting a basil plant! The key to success is keep the plant well watered especially on the first 3 to 5 days.

Below shows a successful basil plant on day 7. You may see some dry or wittered leaves, just trim them away.

                 Fig. 6 New pot of basil plant on day 7, with dry leaves trimmed off



 

If you wish to hang the basil plant at the balcony, remember to choose pot that allows hanging.

Fig. 7 Basil plant in hanging pot at HDB balcony

By Seeds

Scatter about 3 to 5 seeds in a small pot ( ~ 10cm diameter). Water the soil well ( about 2L of water per day in the morning). Seeds typically take about 7 days to germinate. By the 10^th day, you should see seedlings in the pot. The seedlings will be ready for transfer by day 14 or when it reaches 5cm in height.

Replace the stems above with seedlings and follow the steps accordingly.